Monthly Archive for October, 2011

Search Bing, Google, & Twitter Together

When I first tested Askboth.com it only searched Bing and Google. I didn’t like the Google ads that cluttered-up the page. Now the ads are gone and Twitter appears in the centre column of the search results.

If you use NoScript, then select Temporarily Allow Askboth.com. This isn’t the only search engine that requires scripts.

Askboth.com is a very useful tool for comparing the ranking of a query on both engines at the same time. This often aids in the creation of a more precise search statement when you go directly to the individual search engines and Twitter search tools.

With the demise of the unary operator, + in Google search, I went looking for a reliable list of query operators. (In a unary operation, in a mathematical system, one element is used to yield a single result.)

I never underestimate the creativity of crooks. This ingenious scheme illustrates how crooks are always looking for a weakness to exploit. In this case, the criminals insured a marine vessel and then they made a claim against that policy each month. The claim was always lower than the premium, and the insurance company did not become aware of the fraud as they were making a profit.

If you provide a location in your Twitter profile settings, then following @topix_local will get you tweets about the location. To stop getting alerts, simply stop following @topix_local. This needs a city name in your profile settings to be effective so that it picks-up the hashtag (#city).

UPDATE: You won’t get very many Tweets using @topix_local compared to using TweetDeck and creating a column for #City. But of course, in TweetDeck, you will get everything with the city hashtag, whether it’s news or not.

There is a saying that “you can’t know what you don’t know”. This might be tautological, but it is also true, as it might be impossible to identify gaps in our own knowledge. In other words, you can’t teach yourself what you don’t know. Without instruction and training, you’re very likely to think that you do in fact know “everything” you need to know, when in fact, you don’t have the ability to recognise your mistakes.

Typically, the unskilled rate their ability as above average, much higher than it actually is, while the highly skilled underrate their abilities. Confidence is no substitute for skill and knowledge, while skill and knowledge must be used with confidence to ensure a positive outcome.

Most of the time, there isn’t much information available within the picture itself. However, certain smartphones (iphone) and high-end cameras have GPS built in, and geo-tag pictures. Advanced cameras also store metadata such as the model name, exposure settings, etc. Even without the location information, the Exchangeable Image File format (EXIF) info stored on the image is still useful in the evidence gathering process.

The next page displays EXIF info, or information on the Camera, and, if available, the GPS-based location where the picture was taken. Scroll down for the GPS info or click on the map service link in the box on the left side of the page.